Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) are hoping to take over one of the most prestigious golf courses in England, according to DP World Tour golfer Eddie Pepperell.
Wentworth bosses charge a whopping £175,000 to join the club and an additional £16,000 per year in fees, with one-off green fees reaching £360 in high season. The club was founded in 1922 and hosts the BMW PGA Championship – one of the biggest yearly events on the DP World Tour.
Pepperell claims that Saudi’s sovereign wealth fund is set to purchase the Surrey course, and they are also interested in Berkshire’s exclusive Sunningdale Golf Club.
“Talking of the Saudis,” he told The Chipping Forecast. “I was told this week by someone who would know that they are buying Wentworth. The PIF are buying Wentworth, for sure. That’s what I was told.
“And they are interested in buying Sunningdale. Now that is more of a rumour but Wentworth…”
Saudi investment has shaken up the world of golf in recent years, with prominent stars defecting from the PGA and DP World Tours to take up bumper pay days with LIV. Pepperell, who boasts two DP World Tour wins and a top-six finish at The Open in 2018, is not among the defectors.
Wentworth has been owned by Chinese investment group Reignwood since 2014, when they purchased the club for £135million. It remains to be seen whether the Saudis strike a deal at a similar price, or whether the course has appreciated in the decade since it was last sold.
Reignwood’s purchase initially caused controversy among Wentworth members, who were forced to rejoin the club and pay a £100,000 fee. Details of Sunningdale’s membership structure, meanwhile, are kept tightly guarded.
The Saudi PIF are said to have pumped more than £1.5billion into making LIV a force in golf. Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm are among the tour’s star names, while the likes of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy have remained loyal to the PGA Tour.
Saudi PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan recently revealed that the sovereign wealth fund is looking to scale back their future investment in sporting mega projects, which currently make up 30 per cent of their portfolio. The Middle Eastern country’s new target is between 18 and 20 per cent, according to Al-Rumayyan.
